May 26, 2010Gail Twersky Reimer: Making Trouble
As demonstrated by vaudevillian Sophie Tucker, silent film and stage star Molly Picon, Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice, stand-up comic Joan Rivers, "Saturday Night Live" performer Gilda Radner and Broadway's Wendy Wasserstein, American Jewish women comedians have made an indelible impact on the entertainment world and the times in which they lived. Each was unique in her talent but shared the joy and burden of being Jewish, female and funny. Their stories are told in "Making Trouble," a documentary film produced by the Jewish Women's Archive (JWA).

May 6, 2010Arnold Resnicoff on Faith and Foxholes: Religion in the Military
In Celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month 2010, the Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, the Veterans History Project, and the American Folklife Center presented a talk by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff on his experiences as a chaplain in the military.
May 5, 2010"Barbie's Jewish Mother and Corporate Genius"
Attorney and author Robin Gerber delivers a lecture about Mattel Inc.'s Ruth Handler titled "Barbie's Jewish Mother and Corporate Genius" in the Mary Pickford Theater. This lecture is a part of the Library's month-long celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.

February 3, 2010Shimon Iakerson: Unique Hebrew Manuscripts
Shimon Iakerson, curator of Judaica at the Russian Museum of Ethnography, delivers a presentation on "Unique Hebrew Manuscripts in St. Petersburg, Russia" at the Library of Congress in the African and Middle Eastern Division Reading Room

.November 19, 2009Is Israeli Classical Music Jewish?
The music of Israel is a unique combination of Jewish and non-Jewish traditions that have come together over the course of a century to create a distinctive musical culture. Immigrants from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere brought with them their musical traditions, melding and molding them into a new Israeli sound that helped define the emerging national spirit. Ronit Seter, a scholar in the field of Israel art music, poses the question "Is Israeli Classical Music Jewish?"

June 17, 2009The Approach of the Halakah and Sharia' to Contemporary Legal Issues
Judaic and Islamic legal systems (based on Halakah and Sharia', respectively) have endured for centuries despite the rapid changes and challenges of the modern world --from exploration of outer space to human cloning. They serve as a testimony to the relevance and universality of their underlying values and principles.

The potential application of these legal systems to the development of foreign policy was the subject of a program titled "The Approach of the Halakah and Sharia' to Contemporary Legal Issues."

In addition to explaining the historical development of Judaic and Islamic law, the program explored adaptations of these laws that could benefit policymakers in their legislative work on foreign policy and other areas affecting religiously oriented communities

June 4, 2009What Stillness Illuminated
Aaron Taub presented a reading of his poetry in a program sponsored by the African and Middle Eastern Division.

May 19, 2009Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City
Laura Cohen Apelbaum and Wendy Turman spoke about and showed a power point presentation on the new exhibit at the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington on "Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City."

February 11, 2009My Father's Paradise
Yona Sabar was born in a mud hut in the remote Kurdish region of Northern Iraq. Protected by towering mountains, the Jews of Zakho lived peacefully among Muslims and Christians for hundreds of years. But in the late 1940s, the outside world came crashing in, and Yona would be the last boy in Zakho to become a bar mitzvah. Yona's son Ariel Sabar discussed his new book, "My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq."

December 11, 2008Jews and Shoes
Shoes are an integral part of Jewish material culture according to Edna Nahshon, author of "Jews and Shoes" (Berg Publishers, 2008). The book takes a fresh look at the makings and meanings of shoes, cobblers and barefootedness in Jewish experience. The book shows how shoes convey theological, social and economic concepts, and as such are intriguing subjects for inquiry within a wide range of cultural, artistic and historic contexts.

November 2- 3, 2008Iranian Jewry: From Past to Present
A two-Day conference on the history and culture of Iranian Jewry, sponsored jointly by the African and Middle Eastern Division at the Library of Congress and the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies and the Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute Center for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland.For Full Conference Details Click Here

The Jews of Iran comprise not only one of the oldest populations of Jews in the world, but also one of the most ancient threads in the diverse fabric of the ancient Iranian community. Beginning with the Achaemenid period (550-330 B.C.) and lasting beyond the emigration of a portion of Iran's Jewish population to the United States and Israel in the late 1970s, Jews have had a complex interaction with the Persian state and culture.Iranian Jewry: From Past to Present (Sunday Nov. 2nd at UMD)

Iranian Jewry: From Past To Present - Morning Session (Monday Nov. 3rd at LOC)
The morning session focused on Jews in Medieval Persian Cultures and Resources for the Study of Iranian Jewry. Featured speakers and topics of discussion were Parvaneh Pourshariati, "Jewish Participation in Over-Land Trade in Late Antique Iran: A Preliminary Assessment"; Maria Subtelny, "The Jews at the Edge of the World: The Islamic Ascension Narrative as Missionary Text in Medieval Iran"; and Vera Moreen,"Neglected Sources: The Riches of Judeo-Persian Manuscripts."
In addition, other speakers were Peggy Pearlstein, "Iranian Judaic and Hebraic Resources in the Collections of the Library of Congress"; Hirad Dinavari, "Jewish Resources in Persian and Iranian Collections at the Library of Congress"; and Vera Moreen, "Of Making Many Encyclopedias There Is No End: Reflections on the Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World."

Iranian Jewry: From Past To Present - Afternoon Session (Monday, Nov. 3rd at LOC)The afternoon session focused on Jewish Material Culture and Folk Art and Jewish Culture in Twentieth Century Iran. Featured speakers and their topics of discussion were Judith Goldstein, "Muslim Rulers and Jewish Holy Men: Oral Tradition and the Imagination of Political Agency"; Shalom Sabar, "Persian and Kurdish Jewish Amulets: Shapes and Images, Texts and Social Function"; Evan Rapport, "Bukharian Jewish Musical Life and Its Relationship to Judeo-Persian Culture"; and Orly Rahimiyan, "The Iranian Shylock: The Image of the Jews in Iranian Cinema." Dalia Yasharpour, “Influence of the Jewish Persian rite on the Haggadah of the Kaifeng Chinese”

October 28, 2008Song of Songs: The Honeybee in the Garden
The Song of Songs is the Hebrew Bible's love song. But who sings this song? While the literal words tell of the passionate love of a man and a woman, the early rabbis understood the verses as an allegory of the love between God and Israel. In her illuminated manuscript, "The Song of Songs: the Honeybee in the Garden," author and artist Debra Band interprets and illustrates the biblical text.

May 5, 2008Traditional Judaism or Reform
As part of the Library's celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, Marsha Rozenblit delivered the ninth annual Myron M. Weinstein Memorial Lecture on the Hebraic Book. The lecture focused on Viennese Jews in the 19th Century. Rozenblit is the Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History at the University of Maryland. The lecture series honors Myron M. Weinstein (1927-1998), whose 29-year tenure at the Library was spent in the Hebraic Section.

January 17, 2008I Will Wake the Dawn: Illuminated Psalms
The Book of Psalms is probably the best-known book of the Hebrew Bible. In her new book, "I Will Wake the Dawn: Illuminated Psalms," author and artist Debra Band has selected 36 of the most well-known of the 150 psalms to interpret and illustrate.

October 18, 2007Jewish Washington: Scrapbook of an American Community
Laura Cohen Apelbaum and Wendy Turman of the Jewish Historical Society
of Greater Washington spoke about the history of the Jewish community
in Washington, D.C. The talk also included images from the new book, "Jewish
Washington: Scrapbook of an American Community." The program was
sponsored by the Library's African and Middle Eastern Division.

May 8, 2007A
Bibliographer Encounters the Muses: Reflections on the Yiddish Theater
and Its Legacy
Zachary M. Baker delivered the eighth Annual Myron M. Weinstein Memorial
Lecture on the Hebraic Book as part of the Library's celebration of
Jewish American Heritage Month. The lecture was titled "A Bibliographer
Encounters the Muses: Reflections on the Yiddish Theater and Its Legacy." The
lecture series honors Myron M. Weinstein (1927-1998), whose 29-year
tenure at the Library was spent in the Hebraic Section.

December 6, 2004
The live performance,“Haven
to Home: An American Journey,” tells the stories of Emma
Lazarus, an immigrant’s
daughter who became known as Lady Liberty’s poet, and Irving
Berlin, an immigrant who became one of America’s best loved
composers. The original play, commissioned by the Hebraic Section
and written and directed by Roberta Gasbarre, Director, The Discovery
Theater, Smithsonian Associates, explores how the values of liberty,
opportunity, and religious freedom shaped American history. The 45
minute presentation was one of the public programs related to the
Library of Congress exhibition, “From
Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America.”

June 7, 2004
The Hebraic Section of the Library of Congress hosted the Fifth Annual
Myron M. Weinstein Memorial Lecture on the Hebraic Book in the Thomas
Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Jonathan D. Sarna
presented a lecture, "The Jewish Book in America". Jonathan D. Sarna
is the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History
at Brandeis University and chairs the Academic and Editorial Board
of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.
He also serves as chief historian of the National Museum of American
Jewish History and of Celebrate 350 and is the author most recently
of "American Judaism: A History". (View Cybercast

)March 30, 2004
Author Susan Weidman Schneider, editor-in-chief of Lilith discusses
her experiences of more than two decades at the helm of the award winning
Jewish women's magazine. (View cybercast)